CFLs

Compact fluorescent light bulbs are a lot of hype without the performance to back up the publicity. I am now working my way through the third, yes, the third box of GE Energy Smart™ CFLs, a box of 6 CFLs that are supposed to last 5 years! I’ve been willing to pay the extra bucks for the bulbs to save $$ on my electric bills, have bulbs that don’t have to be changed as often as the old incandescent bulbs, and do my part to save Mother Earth from my conspicuous consumption.

However, my experience is that the bulbs do not outlast the old-fashioned incandescent bulbs and need replacement about every 3 months, which negates the money-savings reason for using the CFLs. When CFLs burn out, they really burn out, with curling smoke and a noxious odor announcing it’s time—again—to replace another CFL. I haven’t decided how healthy the emission from the burning CFL is as it wafts its way throughout my house, but I do know the lamp contains mercury, a substance harmful to humans.

Of course, it is just in the last couple of months that I’ve learned I no longer can throw away the steady stream of burned-out CFLs as the mercury in them poisons the aquifer. Saving the environment from my conspicuous consumption is becoming a financial burden between the much higher initial cost of the CFLs and the cost to dispose of them properly.

I’ve bought CFLs from Big Lots, Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, Lowe’s, and Home Depot, but I haven’t found a brand yet that saves me $$ while saving the environment, too. The last box, the GE Energy Smart™ bulbs, proudly proclaims “Lasts 5 years,” which theoretically off-sets the purchase price of $20 for 6 bulbs. However, the promised 8000 hours is actually 333.33 days, which is not even 1 year—leaving 4 years unaccounted for, so is the 5 years the shelf life of the package of bulbs?

No. Reading the limited warranty, the bulbs are “guaranteed to last 5 years based on rated life at 4 hours consumer use per day at 120v.” Ah, the 333.33 days of use would be round-the-clock, but at 4 hours a day of actual use of the bulb, I might actually get the 60 months? Not happening in my house.

Okay, I’ll admit that I use the bulbs more than 4 hours per day, and I suspect that most consumers use light bulbs more than 4 hours a day (duh!), but these CFLs are burning out just as fast in my fixtures as the old-fashioned bulbs. The box says the CFLs “use up to 75% less energy and last up to 10 times longer,” but I’d like to see the studies that support that claim.

The good news is that when my bulbs have a failure to perform, all I have to do is … return the UPC from the box and the dated register receipt and GE will replace my bulb! Fat chance of anyone saving both the UPC and the receipt for a light bulb and keeping track of how many 4-hour days of usage have been accrued, but it may happen in GE’s world, right?

Even though I MAY be saving the planet from destruction by using CFLs, I’m paying a bunch of bucks for bulbs that aren’t living up to their advertising claims, so how do I know they are living up to the ecological claims?

Of course, I’ll continue to use the CFLs, try to remember NOT to discard them with the trash, keep the thermostat up in the summer and down in the winter, replace my lawn with desert landscaping, and walk, rather than drive my car, to destinations that are within a mile.

When I question the wisdom behind my ecological decision-making process, all I have to do is recall that my use of “one six pack of GE Energy Smart™ CFL’s … prevents the emissions equal to six million cars being on the road.” To date, I've already saved emissions equal to 18 million cars being on the road!

Wow; it's so worth my sacrifice, even if I do have to change the bulbs every couple of months.

You know, if I've already saved the emissions from 18 million cars, perhaps I can reconsider my decision to walk, rather than drive my car, to destinations that are within a mile.